Have you also wondered where on Hueco Mundo does Aizen get water for his tea?
Or the fact that the espada were even drinking the tea even though they're arrancars (arrancars are not supposed to eat nor drink, right? Like it doesn't make any sense or does it?)?
Having learned a lot about Hueco Mundo today, tbh I’m more curious about where the heck Aizen got the tea for his tea. I’m now imagining him as a tinhat prepper who, for the last century, has been slowly stockpiling luxury goods from the Seireitei in his Hueco Mundo bunker. He's the ultimate doomsday prepper, because he’s both the prepper and the doomsday.
(The false sky over Las Noches is the first half of a terraforming project, because high-quality tea has a shelf-life and regrettably Aizen has become accustomed to this embodied vice. But plants need sunlight, not the illusion of it. Future historians of the Winter War period will boldly trace Aizen’s defeat back to this fact.)
Anyway, about this tea party and the origins of its water! I feel like there are a few key avenues for speculation--and these are speculations--that arise here:
What is Hueco Mundo's environment like?
What life can this environment sustain, and how does it persist?
Where is the water?
Why is the water important?
What's with the tea party?
1. What is Hueco Mundo's environment like?
What is Hueco Mundo really? It’s a space between the Living World and Soul Society, which Ichigo admits he initially imagined as a dead world. But he immediately reverses this opinion once he sees this cute lil’ guy:
[Chapter 245]
Though they are often maligned as empty wastelands, deserts are on Earth can be quite biodiverse. This isn’t to say deserts in Hueco Mundo have to be the same, given that Hollows are, well, hollow. Emptiness incarnate. But I love the possibility that Hueco Mundo bucks the narrative, and love even more that Ichigo is immediately on board with this. What does he care what the narrative says these things are supposed to be—shinigami do this, Hollows are innately that, blah blah.
Of course, at first blush, Hueco Mundo does seem a bit static, environmentally. It’s always nighttime, which suggests the temperature stays pretty much the same, and photosynthetic life would be a rough life. It doesn’t even have crepuscular flora, because all the plants are rocks:
[Chapter 244]
Hueco Mundo apparently does have lunar phases (which are opposite those in the Living World, according to the Bleach Wiki), though truth be told I’m not sure what lunar phases get them--besides a calendar and the potential for a vibrant Arrancar astrology culture. I entertained the idea that Hueco Mundo’s moon(s?) might pull Hueco Mundo’s sands like ocean tides, but apparently tidal forces strong enough to make sand act like water would also be powerful enough to simply tear the planet apart.
ON THE OTHER HAND, that’s assuming Living World physics. I feel like Hueco Mundo would be entirely capable of persisting under a force that, mathematically, should rip it apart. (Maybe that’s part of why it’s so much more reishi-dense than the other realms?!) That sounds absolutely on brand for the Arrancar and definitely sounds like something that would stand out to Aizen as prime headquarters material as he browsed Zillow.
2. What life can this environment sustain, and how does it persist?
[Chapter 244]
I think even if Hueco Mundo doesn’t get to be cool and have sand tides, the shapes of its dunes suggest that it does have winds. Without plant life, its sands have no anchors and are therefore free to move quite far. Random Hollow bacteria in one part of Hueco Mundo could easily start an independently mutating colony in some other part. The miracle of life. 😊
Imagining Hueco Mundo as a dead place also assumes a particular definition of what life is. The Living World is where living things live. But here we are, in an entire realm with other types of beings that are clearly quite animate. And why would that stop at sapient or sentient life? Are we going to obey DESCARTES ("I think, therefore I am") in Hueco Mundo??? Why??
In Animacies, for instance, cultural theorist Mel Y. Chen "examine[s] how matter that is considered insensate, immobile, or deathly animates cultural lives. Toward that end, Chen investigates the blurry division between the living and the dead, or that which is beyond the human or animal." Especially in a place like Hueco Mundo, who are we to assume the rocks have no animacy of their own? (What is Hueco Mundo if not deeply existential space lol. Just ask Ulquiorra.)
Setting aside life's great existential questions, though, how would life persist here? Because I think this is important to think about before we get to why water would be a vital part of that persistence.
From a purely biological standpoint, ignoring all spiritual/metaphorical components of Hollows and their hunger, there is not a lot of food in Hueco Mundo. It would behoove Hollows to be small. That way they wouldn’t need to expend gratuitous amounts of energy to simply exist. But most of the Hollows we see are freaking huge so, LOL. Maybe they are large because only the smart ones are smart enough to not expend gratuitous amounts of energy being large. Regardless, whether they are large or small-but-very powerful Arrancar, I imagine that their lifestyles are a lot like lions and other large predators: A whole lot of lying around (trickle-charging on ambient reishi), punctuated by very brief, high-energy hunting behaviors. I feel like this tracks with the way the Winter War and the assault on Hueco Mundo function in general. When we think of human war, these tend to be wars of attrition. They last forever and are often won or lost in places other than the literal battlefield. The Winter War lasts like, what, a couple hours? The Espada all go in expecting a punctuation and all the shinigami do too, because they’re not all that different, with their bankai and their 1v1 close-combat fighting and whatnot.
I also wonder if the more outwardly animalistic features of the Arrancar has something to do with the nature of Hueco Mundo, in addition to Hollows just innately being bestial for metaphysical reasons. You lose heat through non-glabrous skin, and if you live in a desert of endless night it would be nice to be hairy. Heat is energy and if you want to be energy-efficient because food is at a premium, you can’t be losing it willy-nilly!
But this ask is about TEA, where Aizen got the water for TEA and why the Arrancar are drinking TEA!
3. Where is the water?
We only see clear skies in Hueco Mundo, but just as it rains in Earth deserts, it could well rain in Hueco Mundo, too. Quick, erratic storms that you can see the entirety of in the distance, your view unobstructed. Given that there is no vegetation, these sudden storms could cause flash floods. If they don’t drown you, it might make it easier to set up water capture in areas prone to flooding. (On the other hand, given how easily the dunes could shift in Hueco Mundo, maybe trying to do this would just be annoying.)
There are many forms of water-capture in arid climates that rely on capturing condensation. It’s easier to collect condensation when there are plants around, but many civilizations have done it with rocks, too. And since it’s always nighttime (and, since Ishida says mirages are impossible in Hueco Mundo, I assume that means it’s cold), there’s probably a dew point out there that Hueco Mundo could hit.
Personally, I think the most effective form of water capture in Hueco Mundo is probably the Forest of Menos, which I learned today is 1) underground, and 2) a petrified forest. It is rocks.
[Episode 147]
Given that it’s underground and cave-like, the potential for condensation would be at a premium. That’s probably why there are so many Menos there, too. Water is life! Or at least, water is reishi.
4. Why is the water important?
Thanks to Ishida, one of the things we canonically know about Hueco Mundo is that its atmosphere is more reishi-dense than that of the Living World—but also more reishi-dense than Soul Society, too. If everything in Soul Society is reishi at the end of the day, I’m willing to assume that everything in Hueco Mundo is also reishi. Let’s roll with that.
Ishida guesses that Hueco Mundo's atmosphere might be reishi-dense enough that small, weak Hollows can persist on ambient reishi:
[Chapter 245]
** Maybe this is also why no one needed so much as a snack break during the entirety of this arc. I need a snack break just writing this post. Here's a snack for you if you are still reading it! 🧁🧁🧁🧁🧁 **
We also know that souls need (or enjoy?) water—to the extent that it’s a commercial item:
[Chapter 098]
If RenRuki et al can steal water, then it must have value to Joe Soul. I mean, the fine and upstanding citizens of Inuzuri probably don’t take the time to harvest all this water on the off-chance some shinigami hoofs it out to the 78th. Maybe souls without spiritual power use it to stay supple. (As they say, Reishi don’t raisin!)
My point is, water is reishi, and if you had to, you could probably subsist on water alone for a fair amount of time. Shinigami usually eat food to replenish their reiryoku, but I feel like that’s because it’s more reishi-dense than water, which is more reishi-dense than air:
[Source]
Would a Hollow prefer to eat human souls? Probably. But hey, maybe sometimes they just eat rocks. Metabolizing rocks seems hard, though, so maybe the water is the most convenient after all. Whether the Arrancar actually need to eat or drinks themselves, idk, but there’s some precedent for memory of this need, and Aizen seems to have brought his own cultural expectations about these things.
5. What's with the tea party?
After we know where the water was from and why the Arrancar would benefit from drinking it, why did Aizen host this soiree in the first place? With tea?
Tea is a colonial good that Aizen has brought to this desert to demonstrate the elevated culture he aims to bring to this place, wedding his vision to their resources in order to surpass the fatherland. I mean, the guy ~made a castle~ with a ~fake daylight sky~ in a place that explicitly is meant to be empty space under an endless night. Of course he brought tea.
Tea functions as a gesture of both hospitality and control. Through this tea party, Aizen insinuates that he will allow the Espada ("his" Espada) light refreshments, but he has not yet allowed them to “eat.”
Emphasizing this fact is the whole point of the meeting, after all. We see what happens when Grimmjow fails to behave accordingly:
[Chapter 245]
Aizen brings Grimmjow to his knees with a glance (and, one assumes, the pressure of a fuckton of reiatsu).
If Chapter 245 is Aizen’s equivalent to Scar’s "Be Prepared" number in The Lion King:
The future is littered with prizes
And though I'm the main addressee
The point that I must emphasize is
You won't get a sniff without me!
For the anniversary ask: how do you think the aging of Shinigami works?
@jiyle asked a variation of the same, so I will count this answer for both!
As you both know, there are lots of different shinigami aging theories out there, which I think is fabulous. Here’s mine!
I. BIOLOGY
How does shinigami aging work? My first impulse was not to try too hard to analogize it to human aging. I mean, how old is Lightning McQueen in human years? He’s a car, so why not just imagine him in car years? As someone who owns a car that is the same age as the cinematic masterpiece, Pixar's Cars, "16-year old car" carries a lot of meaning that is untranslatable to an approximate human age.
But maybe shinigami aging is more similar to human aging than it first appears. Sure, shinigami aging is wacky and non-linear, but so is human aging. Human aging sees periods of rapid development, and also periods of (seeming) stasis. Aging approximates different mathematical functions at different points in a person’s life.
Generally speaking, that seems to describe what we see of shinigami aging pretty decently, too. It seems like the three main distinctions between shinigami and human aging are:
Shinigami live longer lol.
Shinigami periods of development and stasis are more pronounced. Rather than just having their aging streeeeetched to fit the length of their lifespan, their periods of development are more acute/extreme.
Human aging is more readily generalizable to a population, whereas shinigami seem more variable. We have the Academy Kids + Hitsugaya more or less getting older at some kind of regular interval, even if maybe they are not quite exactly the same interval. But we also have Unohana. And Shinji, for that matter, lopsided man of mystery.
As for more specifics? Meh. People in Seireitei probably age differently than those in Rukongai. Shinigami probably age differently than non-shinigami souls. (Which I imagine could make for some interesting family dynamics!) The reiryoku you possess probably plays a role here, and perhaps even its expression as reiatsu plays a separate one. I think there are a lot of variables to play with here and I take a plot of pleasure in that. To add to the variables, I’m frankly not convinced that time is even linear in Soul Society, nor am I convinced that time (and space) are uniform ACROSS Soul Society.
One last thought to close this section: If we want to imagine the biological age of a shinigami, particularly a Captain-class shinigami, what analogy is most appropriate? Do we analogize age in terms of humanity? That thing shinigami echo/ghost? Or is it more appropriate to imagine their life milestones like those of a star, a ball of incredible and otherworldly energy?
The Hell Arc seems to strongly imply that the Gotei did not think about this. Or at least, possibly not enough.
--
Below the cut: Shinigami theories of development, age as an identity category and its relative importance (or lack thereof), and how human interaction might impact these ideas.
--
II. CULTURE
Because their biological age is harder to meaningfully quantify, I feel like it’s probably even less important, culturally, to shinigami than it is to us. As age approaches infinity, what is one millennium, or two? Things like your class/rank/reiatsu classification seem like they would be infinitely more relevant for anyone trying to figure out who you are, or how to interact with you. (Imagine GoteiMingle… instead of A/S/L you give your rank/gender/division. What a miserable little website, LOL.)
I think it’s also worth thinking about what Soul Society’s conceptions of these different, less culturally relevant life stages would be, since for humans, the concept of "childhood" (what it is, what ages it covers, why it matters) is already historically variable. Soul Society does seem to mostly acknowledge that children are different than adults, so there’s that. (Maybe because of the preponderance of ghost children they deal with?). Yoruichi understands Byakuya as an adolescent in TBTP, and Kyouraku and Ukitake express similar sensibilities in the Beast Swords arc.
But it also seems like Soi Fon is Yoruichi’s vassal before she’s understood is a child, and I imagine Byakuya is family head-in-training before he is a child, too.
This is an oversimplification, but in the Edo period, childhood/adulthood were understood as particular social stages demarcated by coming-of-age ceremonies. These did roughly align with biological age, though children transitioned into "adulthood" somewhere between ages 13 and 20 (in the scheme of things, a pretty broad range). As a child, you got to play and socialize. But you were also already understood to be in-training to become a samurai, or a merchant, or a priest, or family head, or marriageable, or whatever; and then you became that thing. You weren’t an adult because you turned 18, or 20, but because you acquired the ability to do adult work. (And/or your paranoid family really needed you, at age 3, to be family head, LOL. But let’s ignore those cases.)
This seems to track with Soul Society’s sensibilities, in the sense that shinigami adulthood would be less about your biological age than about having completed training (e.g. Academy). I’m not saying that this is how you *should* see things; I just think it’s likely that this is how they do. In a world where rank and/or class supersedes all, and adulthood is defined as the ability to do adult work, if you’re employed then you’re an adult.
Like, I don’t think shinigami by and large see Hitsugaya as a child. We don't generally tend to see his authority questioned (at least in formal situations; antics happen in a different register). He probably did intentional work for this, yeah, but it’s not as though his youth were this insurmountable obstacle to achieving respect as a captain. I feel like most shinigami probably don’t go around thinking "what is this child doing here"; and moreover, they also probably don’t even think, even in a neutral way, "that one is a child." He's a captain.
Ironically, the two people who don’t ever seem to get on board with this* are Ichigo and Aizen, with Ichigo calling him "Toushirou" and Aizen calling him "Hitsugaya-kun" (both when they are celebrating birthdays AND when Aizen is repainting the Council of 46 chambers with fresh blood). Because, well, Aizen is an asshole, and Ichigo is on his own planet and has clear ideas about how that planet works, LOL. Which is fine because it’s a great planet.
And I think all of this can be true without having to be completely blind to Hitsugaya’s biological age, whatever it may be. He knows he’s young, and tends to be upfront about that as long as that’s not taken to be synonymous with not being an adult.
In Chapter 80 Renji refers to him as 例の天才児 (rei no tensaiji), or "the model child prodigy." Mildly derisive, but I’m pretty sure it’s the "model" part rather than the "child" part that Renji finds annoying. (Though the Viz omits both of these, so perhaps they had a different opinion, XD.)
In Chapter 208, Shawlong Qufong also describes Hitsugaya as 幼い (osanai), "young," in the sense of not being fully-developed, which he links grammatically to a description of Hitsugaya’s bankai. I think it’s intended more a statement of fact than it is an insult—osanai doesn’t have an inherently negative connotation, though maybe it’s worth mentioning that it appears to evoke the idea of literal babies more than say, a young man or even a young boy.
AND SURE, what does Shawlong know about shinigami. What does Shawlong know about anything? But I think we can throw Shawlong a bone and take this to mean that Hitsugaya’s biological age is unambiguously young. But in spite of this, it may not be functionally relevant or "read" socially in shinigami day-to-day.
* NB: Hinamori is in her own category!! And omake Ukitake, who I'll reference later. There’s also the bathhouse lady from Shinigami Cup 74, who reads Hitsugaya as a child in spite of the fact that they are in the Seireitei (I assume—how far would Hitsugaya have agreed to walk with all their paperwork in hand??) and he is literally wearing his Captain’s haori. I think about her all the time. She keeps me up at night.
III. HUMANITY
This isn’t to say that referencing someone’s youth can’t be done derogatorily. Byakuya shouts at Ichigo during their big pre-execution fight, and called him 小僧 (kozou), "boy." Which I mean, Ichigo is literally… 15… And Byakuya is what, more than 10x that?
More to the point, I think it’s really interesting to think about how shinigami specifically think about human age, too. All humans are younger than anyone in the main cast, and the Karakura Kids are BABIES. But they are also human adolescents, on the cusp of childhood and adulthood at once, and I imagine that’s often baffling and/or fascinating to the shinigami. I mean, I think Ichigo is baffling to Soul Society for a lot of reasons, LOL, but this would be another one for the bingo card.
Additionally, during the Edo period, the concept of adolescence as a "thing" was kind of on-again, off-again, and inasmuch as we can play with Soul Society’s Edo references that one seems fun to me, in terms of whether or not a shinigami believes that there’s anything between childhood and adulthood. Especially when you think about what the modern vs. Edo expectations of different biological ages and their relationship to adulthood might be. And ESPECIALLY ESPECIALLY when you think about the ways those differences are countered by the fact that they are living a manga series, and fifteen-year olds in manga series are a whole other Thing. I mean, even in the most slice-of-life corner of Bleach, half of Ichigo’s friends are living independently at 15!
I’m also interested in shifting ideas of childhood in Soul Society as a result of ongoing contact with the human world. Being a shinigami is by and large defined by services rendered. It’s in the name! And if you’re not doing that, then what are you doing. But if you’re an "adult" after six measly years of Academy, potentially for thousands of years, and being an adult is defined by doing work, I imagine it’s difficult to remember what childhood even is, or what forms of play/pleasure/curiosity were part of it (and perhaps should still be cultivated, even on the other side of the divide). I know they have clubs and whatnot, but I don’t think that means this difficulty does not exist. Does contact with the human world help? (Or do they just end up ferrying a bunch of extremely sad overworked salarymen ghosts across like, "That’s rough, buddy.")
Did the development of children’s literature as a form inspire Ukitake’s "Sougyo’s Refusal!" serialization? What about his (somewhat haphazard) gifts of candy? The fact that he actually knows everyone’s birthdays and puts them into the SC? Is this the way Ukitake, as a thousanty-something year-old shinigami, courts modernity?
It’s interesting because I consider Ukitake’s bonsai hobby to be one of the Facts that I know about him, and yet I don’t think all that much time is actually spent showing him doing it. As far as I can tell, there’s the comic in Colorful Bleach (and anime omake based off of it) and then this Bleach 4Koma, and that’s it?
[Colorful Bleach] [Episode 162]
I know it’s mostly played as an old man joke, but since Ukitake isn’t particularly good at bonsai, it made me wonder what he’s getting out of it and how long he’s been practicing.
According to the wikipedia entry, the purposes of bonsai are primarily contemplation for the viewer, and the pleasant exercise of effort and ingenuity for the grower. Bonsai practices have been in Japan for a long time, originating in the Tang Dynasty (6th century) in China. Interestingly though, the practice of bonsai didn’t become popular among the general public until the early 1800s (before then it was only done by specialists). Additionally, the term “bonsai” wasn’t really widely used until the end of the 1800s. Given these things, I feel like this might be a relatively “new” hobby for Ukitake? Which would explain why he’s not all that “good” at it.
So what makes a “good” bonsai in the first place? Many Japanese cultural characteristics, in particular the influence of Zen Buddhism and the expression of Wabi-sabi, inform the bonsai tradition in Japan. The main elements of bonsai are:
Miniaturization: By definition, a bonsai is a tree kept small enough to be container-grown while otherwise fostered to have a mature appearance.
Proportion among elements: The most prized proportions mimic those of a full-grown tree as closely as possible. Small trees with large leaves or needles are out of proportion and are avoided, as is a thin trunk with thick branches.
Asymmetry: Bonsai aesthetics discourage strict radial or bilateral symmetry in branch and root placement.
No trace of the artist: The designer's touch must not be apparent to the viewer. If a branch is removed in shaping the tree, the scar will be concealed. Likewise, wiring should be removed or at least concealed when the bonsai is shown, and must leave no permanent marks on the branch or bark.
Poignancy: Many of the formal rules of bonsai help the grower create a tree that expresses Wabi-sabi, or portrays an aspect of mono no aware.
I think Ukitake fails at “no trace of the artist” since LOL he tends to be rather liberal with his pruning. But I think his bonsai approach definitely expresses wabi-sabi, with a special emphasis on the transience and imperfection of his bonsai. I’m guessing he probably enjoys keeping bonsai but never gets very far with them, despite being long lived himself. In addition to having a poor eye, it probably doesn’t help that bonsai require extremely meticulous upkeep, and since he’s sick for long periods of time, his bonsai likely keep dying or losing their shape. Maybe the reason why he gets so overzealous with his pruning is because he doesn’t often have the energy to upkeep them. So he figures if he goes for a big cut (if infrequently), it means he won’t have to do little trims as often.
Knowing about Ukitake’s ongoing struggles with his bonsai, at some point someone brings him back a Lego bonsai set from the living world and he is extremely enamored with it, because he can shape it however he wants, it doesn’t require any watering or sunlight, and he can enjoy it in all seasons.
But wait… what's that aura????
"Ukitake-taichou, I feel… watched…"
Big thank you to @the-kings-tail-fin for being a very good sport!! The flowers are *frogs*--think about how cursed that is. A whole tree adorned with over a hundred pink frogs...
The much anticipated date of B3’s B3 has finally arrived! As promised, we will be posting answers to all your burning questions about the mundanities of the Bleach universe. We got so many good asks!! In fact, so many that we haven’t managed to think of answers that are nearly as high quality as the asks themselves. Forewarning, many of these asks do not stick to the prompt and we spend a lot of time on freewheeling tangents. If you don’t see your ask answered this week, it may also just be marinating in the inbox to be answered at a later time.
In case you miss any posts, we will be compiling them all here as they are released.
Komamura and canine dentition
The ecology of Hueco Mundo and Aizen’s tea
The Gotei 13 Quinquennial Leadership Conference
How does shinigami aging work? (Biological and cultural)
Running water in Soul Society: The essence of waste
Anniversary question!: how do you think soul society deals with disabilities (ie Tousen being blind or Kukaku missing an arm)? Is there a soul society ADA? What does it even mean for a soul to be disabled, and does it remain when they reincarnate?
I’m going to go ahead and broaden this from the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) to talk about whether or not Soul Society is likely to think equitably/accessibly about disability.
Short answer: There can be no true disability justice when a society is structurally indebted to rule by war, genocide, and the uneven distribution of power.
But when has B3 ever left anything short? These are pretty unformed thoughts with lots of room for further consideration/greater nuance, but I’ve taken this ask as an invitation to do at least that first step.
13 Thoughts On Disability and the Gotei 13
(8 things that are garbage, and 5 with potential)
8 Things That are Garbage:
Authoritarian power structure
Narrow definitions of "valuable" expertise and experience
Disempowerment of minoritized communities
Pervasive culture of silence
Unsustainable work hours
Shitty meeting formats
Unimodal presentation style
Refusal to anticipate needs
5 Things with Potential:
Big doors
(Relative) openness to different ways of being
Plurality of care options (sort of)
Well-adjusted sense of liminality
Communities of care
8 Things That are Garbage
1. Authoritarian power structure: The nobility, the Gotei 13, and the Central 46 all exercise power in Soul Society, but for the average Joe Soul, rule by any of these entities is probably about the same—at the end of the day, it’s rule by the powerful. Authoritarian power tends to stigmatize difference, casting it as deviation, infidelity, and possibly ineptitude. The societies that authoritarian power produces then systematically benefit those in positions of power and their ability to stay in power (which tends to be at odds with sharing power, resources, expertise, time, etc. with those deemed different that therefore "marginal"). Examples: Execution being the penalty for Hollowfication/infection they didn’t even want. Execution also being the penalty for losing/lending one’s shinigami powers. The Den of Maggots existing.
2. Narrow definitions of "valuable" expertise and experience: There are a few ways to become a captain, and each captain does tend to have their own special expertises, but the roster is not deep, and there are not many other ways to be upwardly mobile in Soul Society. Kaidou and kidou are *barely* honored as valuable skillsets, and that’s still just "shinigami stuff." This definition of what is/isn’t valuable lends itself to uphold the aforementioned authoritarian power structure, rather than actively seeking out different skills—of even non-skill-based ways of being—that might be valued.
3. Disempowerment of minoritized communities: I think the disabled population in even just the Gotei is minoritized, but I seriously doubt they are mathematically a minority. Untreated PTSD, anxiety, and depression are probably rampant (without the possibility of being diagnosed, since they lack that expertise), and the people who die of illness just die "of illness." Who knows what that is, or in what ways they may have been able to live longer or better. Shinigami probably have all kinds of weird things going on that they don’t take to the 4th, or that the 4th doesn’t have the capacity (either labor or knowledge) to handle effectively.
4. Pervasive culture of silence: If you don’t talk about it disability, then it doesn’t exist! Physical and mental illness, injury, body difference, neurodivergence, trauma… Heck, Aizen nearly destroyed them all and all the SC said was that the Aizen photobook would be out of print and several captains’ columns would be... "on hiatus."
5. Unsustainable work hours: Shinigami are literally defined by the work they do. Reaping is their *purpose.* Forget a 4-day work week and <8-hour days. There’s probably not even a Shinigami Golden Week. And are captains ever not on duty, or at the very least, on call? Why is there no way to retire from the Gotei outside of death, banishment, imprisonment, being Kuchiki Ginrei, or whipping up a baller business proposal for a glasses shop? How does this culture (de-)value shinigami whose bodies cannot do this, or no longer desire to ask this of their bodies? What services to they offer to shinigami who (by their estimate) can no longer sustain an unsustainable practice (but can according to the needs of the Gotei)? THE DEN OF MAGGOTS?
6. Shitty meeting formats: To get less philosophical, you literally have to stand in two straight rows for sustained periods of time during a captain’s meeting. There’s no sitting, no vocalizing out of turn. You need to stim? That’d be a hard no. No backthroom breaks, either. When Ukitake is too ill, he doesn’t go and isn’t technically penalized, but he also doesn’t get a not-seat at the not-table. He doesn’t get the info, and doesn’t get a vote. (Or a chance to advocate his positions. Maybe no one gets a "vote," lol.)
[Chapter 081]
What might an accessible Captain’s Meeting look like instead?
🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼
Imagine:
Yamamoto opens with a quick check-in. This acknowledges the personhood of everyone in the room, even if the goal of the meeting is to assign labor. It also opens the flood to all voices, setting the tone for a meeting that is intended to be dialogic rather than unidirectional/top-down.
He reminds everyone of their Community Agreements, which might include asking questions before acting on assumptions, naming perceived tensions in themselves or between others, or remembering to consider the positionalities from which everyone might be speaking. Yamamoto also invites people to move and use the room as needed to make themselves comfortable in the space.
Yamamoto’s role may be one of facilitator rather than sole speaker; the agenda has likely been set via group inputs, and different captains will have taken responsibility for different elements of the meeting to share these responsibilities/powers. He may see his role as Captain Commander as supporter rather than governor. What can he do to support the other Captains, identify potential collaborations, or share resources? How can captains correspondingly act in the same way for their devisions?
Not only are the captains in attendance, but there are probably representatives from other walks of Soul Society there as well, with either deliberative or voting power. Rukongai district reps, unseated officer reps, Seireitei civilian rep, Academy instructor rep… There may be issues-based reps for a given cycle, like from the SWA or the Shinigami Healing Circles committee.
🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼🌼
7. Unimodal presentation style: Yamamoto certainly isn’t breaking out the PowerPoint or using voice magnification to accommodate anyone with an auditory processing disorder. And if he did, he wouldn’t incorporate visual descriptions into his talk for the visually impaired. (And Hitsugaya probably can’t see shit from where he’s standing, sighted or not!)
If Yamamoto woke up one day and decided to run a Captain’s Meeting like this, it would not go well. They would all hate it, and nothing would get done. There might be a body count. But I think that what that speaks to, really, is the fact that they’ve been living within structures that have refused these possibilities entirely, and that they would have to do real, hard work to unlearn that.
These may also seem like very broad practices. What does this have to do with disability? There are two primary models of disability: medical and social. In the medical model, disability is to be cured or managed. In the social model, "problem" of disability exists in a society’s failure to serve someone’s needs. Which leads us to—
8. Refusal to Anticipate Needs: Any time a Captain’s Meeting gets called, it’s in reaction to something potentially deleterious to Soul Society as we know it. This is probably true all the way down, in the sense that the Gotei 13 tends not to anticipate needs. A village has to disappear, or someone has to die first. (Possibly a cultural effect of focusing on afterlives/afterwards.) But if you’re waiting for someone to tell you what is needed, then you’re reacting to a lack of something rather than try to build a reality that has accounted for that issue in the first place.
5 Things with Potential
1. The doors to the Captain’s Meeting Room are very ADA-complaint.
[Chapter -108]
They are very wide, to accommodate for wheelchair users, and also open automatically, without the need for people to physically push them. (Except there aren’t wheelchairs, because THERE AREN’T WHEELS.) If you trust B3 enough to read this long textpost, then it probably does not surprise you that I have a folder filled with nothing but pictures of Soul Society’s doors, and I honestly think the 4th might be larger than other divisions’ doors. Maybe to accommodate for their diversity of guests?
2. The Gotei 13 seems reasonably open to different ways of being in the world, whether you are blind, deaf, chronically/terminally ill, or are a wolf. No one actually cared that Komamura was a wolf under that helmet, but he seemed concerned that they might, and I doubt he’d be concerned without justification. Ukitake also continues to be well-respected and isn’t asked to not be a Captain because he’s sick (even though it does actually change the ways he is able to do his job, and sometimes is acutely detrimental to being able to do that job well). No one ever seems to think Tousen or Atau wouldn’t be able to do their jobs because of their disabilities, but 1) that sentence again suggests that their ability to work is the most important thing here, 2) there are probably entire communities of deaf and blind people in Soul Society who aren’t "thriving" in Soul Society, either by labor-based or more personal measures, and 3) I don’t know that Tousen actually received accommodations for being blind, or that any of his colleagues actively thought about what practices might not serve him. The city is already unnavigable, and so much about people’s ranks/identities are tendered visually.
3. The fact that both the 4th and 12th both exist. What would the 12th possibly add to this? you might ask. They are creepy and weird. They ARE creepy and weird, but shinigami other than Mayuri do work there, and tbh despite the fact that Mayuri is objectively terrible, he probably also has relatively more progressive views on disability and body politics than many of his colleagues. But what I really mean goes back to the medical and social models of disability. For the most part, the 4th cures stuff. It tries to put you back the way you were. The 12th does, too, if you need some limbs back. But it’s more complex than that in both these places, probably, and I think the fact that neither have a pure monopoly on what medical care "should" look like, or what its goals should be, is ultimately good for the quality of medical care overall. (And probably pushes the 4th to continually improve the quality of its care and the ways care/health/illness might be conceived, either by acknowledging a valid perspective from the 12th or descrying something from the 12th as utter horseshit and vowing to be better.) It requires the 4th to have a care philosophy, and actively think about what they want that to be.
4. Given their line of work, both in terms of its focus on death and its hazardousness, I think shinigami probably have a better relationship to liminal states of being than most humans do. By that I mean they’re probably more on board with the idea that their bodies, in the state that they presently exist, are temporary. These bodies will change; their functions and abilities will change.
Even though their lifespans may be way longer and the aging process less acute, and their whole real really being about stasis, I think this is one thing they do understand and accept: If you are not sick yet, you will be. If you are not hurt yet, you will be. There’s a dark edge to that, sure—in the sense that the Gotei really does not care if you live or die, or what your quality of life is. But it doesn’t have to be entirely fire and brimstone. A lot of that fire and brimstone feeling probably comes from systematic ableism in the first place. You can live the best and happiest most cared-for life and it will still be true that your body and mind (or bodymind) will change in ways that are difficult, painful, or make certain things no longer possible.
5. There are a lot of shinigami in Soul Society who will go to absolute town for each other. In spite of all the things working against this possibility, communities of care persist. This can be a problem sometimes when it comes to exercising boundaries and practicing self-care (you can’t help someone else if you’re killing yourself in the process), but ultimately, you have to care. You have to be able to assume that you care and the people around you care.
And if there is one thing that the Gotei 13 has going for it, it’s that a lot of them really, really care.
wtf is komamura's whole deal species wise? I never understood it
WOW this is an excellent question, because even though we technically have an answer, it’s never really made much sense to me either. First off, I want to acknowledge that it is stated in several sources that Komamura is an anthropomorphic wolf. His character profile says he is a wolf. In KaraBuri+ it also says he is a wolf (although many people mistake him for a dog). If you were looking for the straightforward answer, I suggest you stop reading here. I know that Komamura is a wolf, but am choosing to do this the hard way, using SCIENCE to find a more definitive answer. (I say this, as if I actually know how to wield science to do anything.) Strap yourselves in, because this is a long one.
Komamura identifies as a wolf, although I don’t think he looks much like what you would stereotypically imagine as a Wolf™. However, we know that phenotype/morphology isn’t always the most indicative of species identification since there’s so much variation, and we don’t have much to compare to. That, and he’s not a true wolf anyway, being some kind of wolfman/werewolf. But also, wolves/dogs/canids come in all sorts of shapes and colors.
We’ll start off by looking at the history of wolves in Japan. Sadly, the Japanese wolf went extinct in the early 20th century due to disease, deforestation, and policies that allowed wolves to be hunted. Honestly the wikipedia page on the Japanese wolf is actually really interesting, and I suggest you give it a perusal for some interesting tidbits on Japanese history and wolf trivia you can use to impress your friends. Science also has an interesting article on the Japanese wolf and history of dogs, which is a little easier to consume.
Of note, the Japanese mainland was inhabited by two types of canids: the wolf (ookami) and mountain dog (yamainu). The ookami was described as “a devouring animal, the body of a greyish-brown colour, the long tail ash-coloured with a white tip; the lower jaws also white-spotted. The mouth wide, the teeth quasi in double rows, perfectly shaped for holding the prey. The eyes appear triangular, sparkling at night. The toes are webbed, so it swims well pursuing and catching deer in the water.” Meanwhile, the yamainu is “very similar to the Ookame [sic], usually yellowish-brown and sometimes speckled; the toes are not webbed and its claws are hollow? Usually it is lean and stinks like waterfowl.”
Due to some poor record keeping and a mix up of specimens however, there is some confusion about which canid is which. If we're going purely off looks though, I feel like Komamura looks more like a wild dog? Plus, his grandfather has long shaggy fur and kind of looks like he could be the ancestor to the Japanese spitz? Look, time is Jeremy Bearimy and we don’t know at what point the timelines might have intersected for the gene pool of modern dog breeds, but I’m saying it’s a possibility.
Note: I feel like Kubo does not know what a dog looks like nor did he use references, because dog shoulders/arms do not work like that.
Recently scientists have been using CT scans and mitochondrial DNA testing of existing specimens (of which there are very few) to describe the Japanese wolf. Interestingly, they have some genes in common with modern Japanese dogs breeds, suggesting there was some interbreeding at some point. Unfortunately we cannot do a CT scan on Komamura, nor can we get a sample of his mitochondrial DNA. We also don’t have a good reference specimen with which to compare his appearance. So what can we examine to determine what he is?
The closest structure that we can examine is TEETH. Luckily for us, one Komamura gets rid of that bucket helmet, there are plenty of instances where he shows his teeth.
In order to provide you with some context, let’s first talk about canid teeth in general. The dental formula for most canines (including wolves and dogs) is incisors (I) 3/3, canines (C) 1/1, premolars (P) 4/4, molars (M) 2/3. The slash indicates upper jaw/lower jaw. This formula is for only one side of the jaw, and the same formula holds for the other side. This means canids generally have 42 teeth (21 teeth on each side of the mouth). Importantly, the maxillary (lower jaw) fourth premolar (P4) and the mandibular (upper jaw) first molar (M1) of canids are modified to oppose each other and maximize the shearing efficiency when biting into prey. The modified teeth are called carnassial teeth.
According to Endo et al. (1997) the Japanese wolf has a very large M1 compared to the Akita (dog). We have nothing to compare to in the Bleach universe, but let’s assume that M1 will be prominent.
Now that we know all this stuff, we can finally look at some pictures of Komamura!
I want to discuss the appalling lack of of consistency and regard for normal anatomy in the anime. At first I tried to get anime screencaps to use as reference, but then I saw THIS offensive picture and immediately got angry and stopped looking.
DO YOU SEE WHAT’S WRONG HERE?? Do you see that unicorn incisor in the middle of the mouth??? We already discussed dental formula and you’ll notice that teeth are mirrored in the mouth, with the same number of teeth on the left as on the right. They come in PAIRS. I can’t think of any animals that naturally have any teeth that are not paired. Even narwhals have paired teeth (the horn is a modified left canine). So this tooth sticking out in the middle is EGREGIOUS.
Moving onto the manga screenshots…
Honestly… I don’t know what’s going on here. We start off ok with that volume cover where it appears Kubo used a reference. I see (I) 3/3, (C) 1/1, and the first few premolars on the bottom. But then... looking at the side profiles... It doesn’t look like any kind of canid mouth I’ve seen. Definitely doesn’t seem to follow the dental formula and the number of teeth seem to change. All the teeth are so sharp…? Where are the premolars and molars? Especially the carnassials, which as we learned, are the hallmark of a canine mouth? If you ask me, these almost look like shark teeth…? Shark teeth fall out/are replaced constantly. Could this explain why Komamura seems to have different numbers of teeth at different times...?
The upper and lower jaws of the blue shark Prionace glauca.
Turns out, looking at Komamura’s dentition didn’t actually give us many answers… Apparently we’ll have to take his word for it that he’s a wolf. Although personally I think he might be closer to a wild dog and I think there’s some evidence for it too, at least going by his appearance. And maybe he’s part shark too??
--------
If you’d like a more philosophical and in depth take on the wolfmen of Bleach, I highly suggest you check out this post by @littleeyesofpallas, because it explains much more than I could ever hope to.
And as it turns out, someone already realized that Komamura has some really messed up teeth, and tried to fix it. Honestly, that fix soothes my soul.
--------
So, what did we learn about Komamura? … nothing really. But LOL we took a journey to get here and learned a bunch of other things along the way (maybe?).
Btw I did some legit research for this ask and if you’re curious about any of the papers I referenced/linked/read in preparation, please DM me and I’ll send them to you! I considered formatting this like a research paper and providing a separate references page but I decided to spare y’all.
All right, going to go full on bonkers with this one. What are Shinigami corporate retreats like? Where do they take everyone? What activities are planned? Is it done by division or do they take multiple divisions out at once? Do they even do corporate retreats? Also, happy blog anniversary when the time comes! It's great to have you both on here :D
Thanks so much for this question! And congrats to you on hitting your major follower milestone!
--------
You say that your question is full on bonkers, but little did you know that it’s actually an idea we’ve been throwing around since January. And now you’ve finally given us a chance to talk about it!
I don’t think the Gotei 13 has typical corporate retreats in the stereotypical sense of the concept. Because teamwork? What’s teamwork? These folks can barely line up in order at their captain’s meetings, much less do trust falls and a challenge ropes course with each other.
You know what the Gotei 13 does all have in common though? All these people are a part of the same professional association, graduated from the same school, and work in the same field. This suggests the existence of a semi-regular event during which shinigami gather together in a small convention hall or medium sized hotel ballroom, in order to share the latest and greatest in shinigami-ing. It’s a time when captains and other seated officers, who are vaguely aware of the existence of officers in other divisions, see each other in person, and awkwardly make small talk with each other while pretending to be cordial. Afterwards, some of the more networking savvy shinigami might think to themselves “that shinigami from 7th was rather nice, I should reach out to them at some point” and then proceed to never do that. Captains, considered experts in their field, praise each other's accomplishments for the purposes of keeping up appearances, and then once they go back home will mutter about how that person is "still just doing the same boring thing." That’s right, it’s the:
Gotei 13 Quinquennial Leadership Conference!
The curriculum for shinigami is only 6yrs at the academy, and somehow there doesn’t appear to be any mandatory training after graduation. Given how long-lived shinigami are though, you’d think there would be requirements to keep knowledge up to date and make sure everyone is still operating using best practices. This means that there are continuing education (CE) requirements. These CE units can be for those wanting to learn new skills or just for general knowledge. Shinigami must acquire units in order to be eligible for seated officer positions.
At the very least, CE is mandatory for 10th seat and above. Captains and VCs have to present/publish at the conference in order to keep their standing. If they fail to do so, there will be a performance evaluation (which is just a pain to deal with).
Once, a few hundred years ago, Kyouraku didn’t present at the conference because he couldn’t be bothered. But having to sit through the whole auditing process where the Central 46 examined and questioned every single report, receipt, location tracking data, and to-do list that had been created during his tenure was such a nightmare that he swore he would never make the mistake again.
Captains/VCs need more CE hours than lower seats (meaning they have to attend multiple days of the conference and not just a half day). Obviously as a captain the idea is that you’d constantly be training and learning new things. But once you’ve been in your job for like 100yrs, some things just get overlooked or forgotten.
The majority of the presentation topics at the conference come from 12th Division showing off random new technologies and experiments that they’ve done (about increasingly esoteric and specific topics that are applicable to no one) or 4th Division with some medical advances. Every once in awhile you get some knucklehead like Renji, who has come up with a new “Let’s Do Shikai” curriculum.
Renji did a poster presentation on “Let’s Do Shikai” at the shinigami conference, which is how he got his Seireitei Communications column (since he was an “expert” on the topic). It’s also one of the reasons why Byakuya chose him as vice-captain – because Renji had “published research experience.”
We’ve provided a flyer from the latest conference, so you can see the groundbreaking topics the Gotei 13 are learning about.
Byakuya always proposes 50 panels but the officials only ever let him run one, and it’s “The Art of Soukatsui.” His panel session is always stupidly early in the morning and on the very first of the day, because it’s “the most important.” He’s also the one who wrote the description of his panel and insisted that it says everything you need to know.
Renji’s panel is also very early in the morning, but according to him it’s because “it’s a great way to get your blood flowing to start the day!”
Relatedly, Nemu’s panel is that 5p session that you sit in, just wishing the day was over because you cannot possibly sit through another presentation and you want to care about the topic, but cannot possibly fathom why this is important.
ハードハドー: Hard Hadou is a panel always given by Hinamori, but the name of the panel makes her immediately blush whenever someone says “Welcome to Haado Hadou.” Shinji named it before he left for the Living World.
Hitsugaya is the kind of guy that succinctly (but kind of boringly) presents his research and then spends all his time by the snacks table.
The description of Hitsugaya's panel is taken from a 2005 book called BlackBerry Hacks: Tips & Tools for Your Mobile Office. You can buy this book new from Amazon for $33.01. What a steal!
I also want to note that Rin’s presentation is based off a real experiment in which Japanese researchers raised mice in a specialized centrifuge cage.
The conference is always concluded by a large banquet which all attendees are encouraged to show up for. The banquet usually ends up somewhat like the event depicted below, where Yamamoto gets way too into performing old karaoke songs, Ikkaku gets drunk off his face, Mayuri tries to spike the punch (with what, no one is sure), and Zaraki starts a food fight. It’s a good thing this only happens every 5 years.
Congrats on the anniversary! For the question I'd like to know your thoughts on what the TVs in Seireitei. What was the sales pitch Mayuri gave for them (because let's face it he developed it for the Seireitei and he would have had to show everyone how they worked) and do you think Rukongai residents in the higher districts have them?
I agree with you that Mayuri probably developed TVs for the Seireitei, but I think he probably developed them for nefarious purposes. Most likely, Mayuri’s sales pitch was about closed-circuit television (CCTV) for video surveillance, and not for communication or entertainment. Seireitei governing bodies were very on-board with this. However, you know who took it to the next level and introduced entertainment programming? That would definitely be Urahara, expert on the Living World and shrewd businessman. Mayuri is probably furious that Urahara co-opted his CCTV for something as frivolous as a primetime block. What’s more reality TV than spying on people??
When I think of the kind of technology that Mayuri is fond of, it’s all very… fleshy. The blob TV that Hitsugaya and Matsumoto install in Orhime’s apartment comes to mind.
[Chapter 238]
Rather than plugging into an electrical outlet, I think blob TVs probably need a more organic source of power and need to be fed food in order to stay alive and work. Since they need food, this probably excludes all but the very privileged and rich from keeping televisions. Maybe once in awhile for a big occasion, residents of the better off Rukongai districts can band together to buy a blob TV. Maybe they can keep it fed for a week, or however long it’s needed for festivities, but then they let it die off. Otherwise, TVs are mostly found in the Seireitei kept by rich and noble families, who can afford to keep blob TVs permanently installed.
But the burning question is, what does the TV lineup look like? What does Urahara consider peak programming worthy of being brought over to Soul Society? Look no further than SOUL SOCIETY TV.
Let’s be real, the majority of what’s being broadcasted over the airwaves is just CSPAN and local access TV. But then there’s an incident with the Central 46, which leaves a long block of... dead air.
Yumichika also has a very short PSA segment called “The More You Know.” Much like one of his columns in the Seireitei Communications, this show can be a bit of a mixed bag. Sometimes it’s legitimately good advice, like skin care hacks, reminders to file reports during tax season, or updates on what looks are in this season. Other times, “The More You Know” is just unbelievably wild rumors or misinformation about certain people and places. Sometimes the gossip contains grains of truth, but just as often they’re completely made up. Don’t cross Yumichika, or you may end up on this segment.
The crowning jewel of Soul SocietyTV is their version of House Hunters. The show has transcended international borders, and is now interdimensional. Rest assured, the format remains the same in this incarnation of the show, and the housing options as well as the prospective buyer wishlists remain just as baffling.
I think the Kuchiki quest looks like some kind of cephalopod, so I made this like 7 months ago. We had no earthly reason to use it and so never did, but I think this post is as close to one as we're going to get! Disclaimer: I have never actually seen Squid Game, just osmosed it.
